The more we passionately seek God’s presence, the better we learn to HEAR Him and the more we become LIKE Him. Is there anyone MORE worth hearing than HIM? Is there anyone greater we could be like? He created us to be close to Him and deeply desires to guide our every step. He wants us to live in His unimaginable goodness, unparalleled wisdom, and magnificent power! I can always tell when I’ve strayed from His presence, because my life becomes full of despair, disappointment, dissatisfaction, unhealthy emotions, loneliness, and—I become a depressed, anxious, confused and an ugly, unhappy person! I exchange God’s real love for the counterfeit version!
Straying from God’s presence is worse than confining myself to a dark prison after I’ve lived by the ocean in a beach house—WHY would I EVER do this to myself???
Our Heavenly Father did not create us to live in a dark place!
My friend, we CAN live in GOD’s presence and become like Him—but to do this, HE must be our center. WE cannot be the center of our own life! No one or nothing else can be our center either! Having God as our center means we love Him so much that we allow His Spirit—not the “wisdom” of our own ways—to have free reign in our life. Our wisest move each moment of the day is—to completely center our life around Him.
We begin and end our day with Him.
What does this look like? Well, we roll out of bed with God AND we take Him to bed with us—and everything in between! We take time to talk with Him and study His Word. Throughout each day we are mindful of His presence. During the day, we ask Him often: “What’s next, Lord?” While we converse with others, we are consciously tuned into Him so as not to miss giving them—HIM. The Bible describes the experience of living in God’s wisdom as having “the mind of Christ.”
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. Now we have received NOT the spirit of the WORLD, but the Spirit who is from GOD, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-7,12
Just as we cannot know the thoughts of another human unless we know them; we cannot know the thoughts of God unless we know HIM. We must love Him so much that we long to ALWAYS be close to Him. As we do, we begin to live in the unity Jesus PRAYED for us to experience:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
John 17:20-23
Jesus prayed for us to be one with HIM as He is one with His Father.
Is it our goal today to be one with God??? When others see us, do they see God?
When we live in oneness with God, HE is our amazing gift to others.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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2 Responses
Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving .
Amen!